Welcome to Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix!
Oct. 27, 2025

Should Artists Stop Uploading to Spotify and Go Back to CDs?

Should Artists Stop Uploading to Spotify and Go Back to CDs?
Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix
Should Artists Stop Uploading to Spotify and Go Back to CDs?

In this episode of the Music Business Newslettee with Matthew Rix, I respond to an email from an artist who says I don’t really help artists the way I claim to.

He believes that if I truly cared about independent musicians, I’d encourage them to stop putting their music on streaming services and instead focus on selling CDs, vinyl, and Bandcamp downloads, where artists actually make money.

It’s a fair challenge and one worth having.

In this video, I talk about:
The truth about streaming payouts and exposure
How to balance discovery platforms with real revenue streams

What “helping artists” actually means in 2025
If you’ve ever wondered whether streaming is helping or hurting independent musicians, this episode offers a real world perspective without industry fluff.

Got a question or opinion you want to share?
Head over to MatthewRix.com and send it in.

Whether you agree or disagree, your email might be featured in a future Music Business Newsletter.

#MusicIndustry #Streaming #IndependentArtist #Bandcamp #Spotify #ArtistAdvice #MusicBusiness #MatthewRix #MattrixMinute #MusicDistribution #StreamingRoyalties #CDSales #MusicCareer


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WEBVTT

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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks and today on the Music

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Business newsletter. It only took five days, but we got

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our first email from an artist who wants me to

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promote CDs and vinyl over streaming for you, the artist.

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So we'll get into that email a second. Make sure

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if you like this video to like it, subscribe, leave

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a comment. If you agree, If you don't agree, leave

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a comment. If you have a question on the music

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industry that you want me to answer, just go to

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Matthewicks dot com and click submit your question. Give me

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as many details as possible and I will answer it

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here or in the audio version.

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Now.

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To send an email, you don't have to become a member.

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You don't even have to subscribe or buy a book

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or join a patren Just go to Matthewricks dot com

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and click submit your question.

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It's that easy. So before we dive.

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Into this email today, I feel like it's important to

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say back in twenty fourteen, we were doing.

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Events all around the.

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World, and in twenty fourteen, Apple Music was called Beats Music.

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At that moment in time, Napster was still kind of

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doing streaming services. Xbox had a streaming service PlayStation out

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of music streaming service and artists then were mad that

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I told artists to go on Spotify, go on Beats

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music at the time, and I should be promoting CDs.

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It's good to see twelve.

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Years later we're still at the same place. But let's

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dive into today's email.

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He says, Matthew, I.

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Discovered your music newsletter emails the other day and I

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started deep diving into matrics minutes on a streaming service.

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We won't tell me which one, probably Spotify. You can

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listen to the matrics minutes on Spotify as well.

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He says.

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I like some of what you say, but I have

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to be honest. I'm starting to question how much you

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really have help independent artists. You always talk about streaming services, algorithms,

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release strategies, and building a fan base online. But if

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you truly cared about artists, you'd be encouraging them to

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stop giving their music away for free on streaming streaming

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platforms that pay fractions of a cent per play. The

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email continues, The reality is that Spotify, Apple Music and

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all of these music platforms profit off the back of

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small artists.

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Well that's not true.

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They profit off the back of people who register for

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accounts who never play music. If you're getting one hundred

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plays a year, one hundred plays a year, if you're

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getting a hundred plays a month, how are they profiting

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off of the backs of you.

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That's just kind of.

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A really short sighted approach to this whole thing. I

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have always viewed streaming services as a great marketing tool.

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Back in the day when when you could buy an

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album at Best Buy or Tower Records for seventeen twenty bucks,

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artists were making like two dollars per CD.

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Two dollars.

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Because the record label, if it was a twenty dollars CD,

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record labels are usually typically selling it in for eight

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to ten dollars. The distrib the distribution company gets their cut.

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Record label is going to get their cut. You have

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to pay it back, and you're recouping at about maybe.

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Three dollars for a good release. Two to three dollars

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per release is what you were recouping.

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If you were an A list artist and you renegotiate

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your contract, you could probably get it up to four bucks,

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maybe maybe four fifty. So it was like if you

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sold the CD at Tower Records for twenty dollars, you

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made twenty dollars of it. The people who made the

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most money off of those CDs was the retailers, but

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because they had to buy it in and then you know,

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the way that the industry worked back then is you'd

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have a restocking fee.

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So if you had a CD and you know.

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Let's say Fye in Wichita, Kansas, bought fifteen copies for

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one store and fourteen of them didn't sell after ninety days,

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they ship those back, they would charge the distributor to

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ship them back. The distributor would charge the label a

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restocking fee, and guests who had to pay that restocking

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fee the artist. So I've never been like, look, you

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can buy a Bugatti off of Spotify plays. But what

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I have always said for eleven years now is that

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people are more likely to check into your music and

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figure out what you're about if it doesn't cost them anything.

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But let's continue with the email, shall we. You know,

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these platforms profit off the backs of small artists who

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never make enough money to survive. If I really wanted

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to empower artists, I'd be telling them to press CDs,

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sell vinyl, and use platforms like band camp, places where

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people actually pay for music. Well, I believe if I'm correct, Then,

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if you release something on Spotify or you release it

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on Apple Music, it's most likely available on the iTunes store,

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and it's most likely available on the Amazon Music Store

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where they can buy it as an MP three. So

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if your fans love your music so much, why are

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they if they're on Apple Music, why are they bypassing

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the iTunes store and going just Apple Music to listen

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to you? Why aren't they dropping a dollar twenty nine

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for your single because they wouldn't listen to it if

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they had to. You know how many artists that come

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across on Instagram or artists who send me messages on

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Instagram and they seem like a cool person or or

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I like their vibe or whatever, I'll go to Spotify and.

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Listen to it.

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But if I had to go to Apple Music or

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iTunes Music iTunes store and spend a dollar twenty nine

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to check it out to decide if I like it

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or not, it ain't gonna happen. It's just it's it's you,

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as an artist won't even do that. And you want

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me to come out here and encourage artists to press CDs.

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Last year, in my house with my two kids, we

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don't even have a DVD player.

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Everything is streaming here.

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We got all this, We got the streaming services, we

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got Spotify, we even have Alexa, so we don't, you know,

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so we can be so new age.

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We don't even have to walk to the other room

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and talk to each other. Last year for Christmas, my

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daughter got a CD player.

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I think she was like, Okay, this is kind of

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a weird thing, but all right, and instantly she loved

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it because it was new and it was unique and

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it was different for her. And had she not had

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a dad who's in the industry or other family members

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who are in the industry, all those CDs she gets

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she would have to pay for and she isn't gonna

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do it. So the CDs to her is a novelty

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because she doesn't pay for it. Because when you're when

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you're in the industry, you'll get on servicing list, so

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you'll get this new releases sent to you in the mail,

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or you just you know, hey, my daughter really likes

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this artist. Can I get the new CD? But I

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will tell you what that story go aha, See I'll

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tell you the story.

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Though.

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As the dad man, I got CD cases all over

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the house, we're getting ready to make a move to

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a new house. You got to there's a box of

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CD cases there, you know, And she's traveling right now.

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She's got to carry her headphone, she's got her CD player,

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she's got she's got the CD case.

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Who's gonna do that? Not to mention, you want me.

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To go out there and tell these artists, Okay, listen,

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you just made a bunch of music. Now I want

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you to go and press a thousand CDs, which is

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probably gonna be a couple of thousand dollars, and then

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go hound a thousand of your closest friends to buy

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your CD that they might not even have a place

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to play it. If it wasn't for my daughter's CD,

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we wouldn't have a CD player, like we would have

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nowhere to play CDs in my house, in my car,

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My computer doesn't have a CD drive. So why would

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I encourage artists to do something that I don't think

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is beneficial to them? As we're selling vinyl, do you

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realize how expensive making vinyl is, what the process is? Yeah,

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I see those ads on Instagram. We're like, no of

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thems for our vinyl, But it's gonna be like seventy

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five bucks eighty bucks, and it's not a quick turnaround.

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So if you want to release an album, you know,

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if it's today's Monday and you want to get your

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album out by the following week, you're not doing that

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with vinyl. You ain't doing it with CDs, but you're

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definitely not doing it with vinyl. So why would I

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encourage an artist to do that? Why would I encourage

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an artist to go to a merch table at their

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club show they're doing, or their county fair show they're doing,

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or their coffeehouse show and sell thirty dollars vinyls Because one,

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there's not a huge markup on those either. You want

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to talk about pennies on the dollar, that's vinyl. And

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then to send them to band camp. Once again, if

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they want to buy your music, why don't they just

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go and buy it at iTunes? Why are we sending

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them to band camp? Go because you keep one hundred percent.

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You gotta really really love an artist, or really be

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intrigued by an artist to make extra steps to do

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them a favor to listen to their music. Years ago,

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like five, six, seven, eight years ago, the big thing

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for artists, it was a rappers thing. It was really

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a rappers thing is their bios wouldn't give you any information,

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but it would say google me. And I said this

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in a matrics man in like twenty sixteen, like google yourself.

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You want me, who I know nothing about you, to

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go and like google you and start doing like like

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oppo research on you, like no, and now this guy here,

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And I see bands always trying to promote their band camp,

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you know, and there might be like, you know, if

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you got ten thousand fans, you might get three who

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are gonna go to your band camp. Want this to

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be as effortless as possible for people to be able

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to to fall in love with your music and become

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a fan by merchandise come to your show. But now

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you're going, hey, look, I know I might have came

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up in the algorithm on Instagram, or you might have

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saw a sponsored ad, or somebody might have told you

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about me.

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So here's what I want you to do. Now.

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Don't worry about going to Spotify, don't worry about going

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to Apple Music or Title or Amazon Music. I want

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you to go to this really obscure website called band

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camp that you've probably never heard of. Because you're not

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in a band or in the industry.

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It's like ten years.

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Ago when everybody was sending everybody to a Pure Volume

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or reverb Nation. Yeah, my music's on reverb Nation. It's

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on Spotify too, right, Well, yeah, well I'll go check

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it out on Spotify. Why because I don't Reverb Nation's

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website at the time was garbage, and I have the

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app for Spotify, So why would I?

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Why would I?

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Why would I tell artists to do stuff that's going

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to put them in debt and that's also gonna just

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really annoy and bother their their their potential fans.

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But anyways, let's continue with the email.

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The email says, it just feels like you've bought into

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the same system that's been exploiting musicians for decades. You

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say you want to help artists win, but how can

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we win in a game that's rigged.

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Well, it's not. It's not that the game is rigged.

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It's just that Spotify doesn't pay enough. And does Spotify

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pay enough?

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No, they do not.

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But I don't think Instagram pays enough to artist for reals,

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I don't think you two pays enough.

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I don't think TikTok pays enough.

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Apple Music is probably the best, but that's still not

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enough for you guys. A penny per play is still

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not enough. And I've asked artists before, like how much

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does Spotify pay you per play?

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And nobody can really give me an answer.

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They usually just like, well, you know, an equal, equal,

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equal out a fair fair amount. I'm like, yes, but

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what does that mean to you? Because your cost of

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living where you live in the world, your cost of

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living is different from the other artists. So if if

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it's more expensive to live in Los Angeles than it

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is to say, Mississippi, do Los Angeles artists get paid

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more than Mississippi artist because of the.

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Cost of living?

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Is it well, we went into a studio and recorded,

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you did yours at home, so we should make more

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per stream?

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How do you how do you rate this? Is it?

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Well, we got one art this is only one person

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in this group. It's a singer or rapper. This is

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a six piece band, so they should get paid more.

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How do you come up with what is a fair price?

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And nobody can really usually tell me.

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They're like, well, a penny per play. I go, well,

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Apple pays a penny per play, Why aren't you. Why

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aren't you doing backflips about that? Look, you can make

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make money with streaming. I have done it with the

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Matt Trics mean, and if I can do it talking

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about the music industry, you can do it with your music.

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But streaming should be used as a tool and a

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vessel for promotion and marketing, for merchandise, for shows. You

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shouldn't be sitting here trying to make you know, a

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living off of your one hundred monthly listeners, but it

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should be about something bigger. Now, as you grow as

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an artist, you have merchandise, you have shows, you got

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publishing coming in.

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Then you add streaming to that.

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But typically the artists who are always complaining about how

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much or how little Spotify plays are either the billionaires

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or the artists with like less than one hundred monthly listeners.

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So I don't think the game is rigged. I just

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think that artists aren't using this properly so they can win.

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Let's continue with the email.

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Email says someone.

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I wouldn't someone with your experience be using their platform

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to push for something better instead of teaching us how

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to play along better like band camp, like vinyls, like CDs.

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I did give you something better. Send send here here,

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I want, I want the person.

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Who wrote the EMO. Send every one of your fans

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to iTunes and Amazon to buy your singles or buy

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your album. Tell me, tell me how many of them

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actually do it.

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It's the number is going to be pretty low.

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So what I am teaching you how to do is

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embrace the algorithm. Be smart about the music industry. Use

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streaming services, use YouTube, use TikTok. Use Instagram as not

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an end all to be all, but as a marketing

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place to leapfrog onto something else.

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All the time with influencers.

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Why do I tell you if you want to submit

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a question, I don't use you to sign up a

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Patreon or whatever, because these guys aren't using this platform.

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They're not using these other platforms. As like, it's not

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one lane, there's multiple different lanes. And what you should

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be doing as an artist is one. You should be

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making money from shows, whether it doesn't matter if it's

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a hunterd Bucks.

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You should be getting publishing because did you know.

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That you get paid mechanicals from your as cap bmic

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sack when your song's played on Spotify or Apple Music.

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If it's registered. You need to be selling merchandise. You know,

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you don't even have to buy in merchandise. You could

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do like a print on demand things so you don't

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have to keep any inventory. Then you're getting streaming services.

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If your song is good enough and you've done enough

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homework and network building in the industry and you got

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the money, you can get a radio promoter, try to

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get your song on radio. It's not gonna go number

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one on Clear Channel or iHeartMedia, but what it will

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do is you probably get played in some markets and

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you'll get some extra money. That way, you have different

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revenue streams coming in. But what you want me to

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do here is tell you to Yeah, band CAP's great.

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It's a broken down website that is exclusive for artists.

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It's the new reverb Nation.

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Reverb Nation was nothing but artists just sitting there, just

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gassing up the other artists.

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That's all band camp is now.

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And now I'm gonna get somebody who's gonna send me

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a message or leave a comment that's like, no, my

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girlfriend she gets all her.

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Music from there. Well, that's great, that's your girlfriend. I'm

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happy for you.

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But the general public is not going to band camp

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to listen to your music. The general public is not

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gonna buy a vinyl of an artist they don't know

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or a CD, and they're gonna buy the CD and go.

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Now what do I do with this? If you go to.

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Places like New York City, they're handing the CDs out

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to you as a promo, and I'm still like, guys,

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give me a QR code. I can't do anything with

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the CD. I wouldn't play to my daughter CD player anyways, because.

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You know, probably hack it or something like that. And

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the email continues.

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Maybe I'm wrong, you are, but I'd love to hear

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your real thoughts. Signed Bob, Well, that is my real thoughts.

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I'm not gonna direct artist.

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I don't think honestly, I don't think aybody should be

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using band camp.

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Okay, you want to throw it up there and hope

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that somebody bumps into band camp and you know you

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can make ninety nine cents and that's great band Camp Fridays.

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But for you to have that as a marketing or

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a strategy is to send people to band camp so

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you can eat. It's not gonna happen. It's a waste

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your time. It was only up to the last couple

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of years that I got off of like, I don't

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think I ourtishould put their music on SoundCloud because all

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these artists were throwing their music up on SoundCloud, directing

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people to SoundCloud instead of their Spotify or their Apple music.

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And what happened. They weren't getting paid it. It didn't matter

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if it was pennies on the dollar. It's still better

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than nothing. It's still better than SoundCloud making all the money.

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But now SoundCloud is a streaming service on top of everything.

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So good for them. But band Camp, no, I will

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never I will never tell anybody who will put your

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music on band Camp. I will never tell an up

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and coming artist or a brand new artist get vinyl.

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Because here's the other.

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Thing that you don't realize when you buy vinyl, because

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I know this from my friends who some of them

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are signed to like Pirate Press Records, the punk label.

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You can't store vinyl anywhere, So if you're off the

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road for months, that vinyl cannot sit in the trailer

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because you'll be selling warped vinyl to people at shows

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and that really ticks them off and they just spend

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thirty dollars on something they can't use. But I do

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appreciate the email, I would just say, once again, use

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any streaming service, use any social media platform as a

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revenue stream. But it's more of a marketing for your

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greater brand.

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That's it.

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And for all yours out there who are demanding and

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crying and belly aching the Spotify and Apple Music pay

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you more money. Do you realize that? Okay, let's say

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right now, Spotify went up and paid everybody three cents

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of play, every artist around the world three cents of play.

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Do you know how much they're gonna have to charge

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a month because they're not gonna lose money, it's just

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their business. They're going to So your Spotify account would

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be forty five dollars for a premium probably or more. Well,

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no one's gonna pay that, that's what are they gonna do.

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They're gonna drop down to free where you don't make

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any money from free plays. On Spotify, you make like

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a tenth of a penny per play. So now we're

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back to complaining again. Now listen, Spotify as a recently

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has done some things that I am not okay with

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as a citizen of America in the world, but them

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not paying you enough when you don't even know what

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00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:22.319
enough is. It's just white noise, and they don't care

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because at the end of the day, here's their thing.

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You need to realize about Spotify and Apple Music. If

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you the artist with less than one hundred monthly listeners,

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00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:35.400
pull your music from Spotify, They're not even gonna blink

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because of that. They're not even going to have a

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00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.319
thought about you leave it because it doesn't matter. You

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as an artist, need Spotify more than they need you.

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And that's just the way it is right now. Now,

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00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:54.559
when you get to Taylor Swich status, you can start

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the revolution.

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And I will support it.

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But right now, as an up and coming artist or

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as a smaller artist, you need Spotify to get as

401
00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.359
many fans as possible because there's been a ton of

402
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.559
research over the years about how people will check out

403
00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:12.400
your link on Spotify or Apple Music because already there

404
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:13.480
and they trust it.

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But if you take that.

406
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Away and try to sell them vinyl or send them

407
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to band camp, you're gonna lose that potential fan. And

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00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:24.119
I want you to get fans. I want you to

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reach the nations.

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So thank you for the email.

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If you have a question on the music industry that

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00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:31.200
you want me to answer and just go to matthew

413
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:34.200
Ricks dot com click submit your question, give me as

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00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:38.359
many details as possible, and until next time, I will

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talk to you later